The Agricultural High-tech Industrial Demonstration Area of the Yellow River Delta is paving the way for the comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land in China, said experts during a recent agriculture development conference in Dongying.

The demonstration area in Dongying, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province, was approved by the State Council in 2015 and it is China's second national-level agricultural high-tech industrial area.

More than 80 percent of the 350-square-kilometer demonstration area is made up of saline-alkali land. Due to the high salt content in the soil, only a few salt-resistant species were able to grow in the Yellow River Delta.

Dongying is now aiming to make use of its research resources to build the area into a comprehensive demonstration model for saline-alkali land utilization, said Yang Guoqiang, Party secretary of Dongying at the conference.

In recent years, experts in the demonstration area been exploring ways of utilizing saline-alkali terrain by cultivating salt-resistant varieties. According to Yang, Dongying has already cultivated 55 new varieties of saline-alkali tolerant crops, such as quinoa, alfalfa, and potatoes.

The conference, which took place on Oct 21, featured academicians and experts who discussed utilization strategies for saline-alkali soil.

An initiative emphasizing the key role that technological innovation, talent and construction of research platforms will play in promoting the utilization of saline-alkali land was also released at the conference.

Dongying, a city where the Yellow River meets the sea, has made significant strides in promoting the ecological protection and high-quality development of Yellow River basin in recent years.

The Yellow River, known as China's "mother river" and the cradle of Chinese civilization, spans about 5,464 kilometers through nine provincial-level regions.

In Dongying, the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve has become an important wintering and stopover site for migratory birds due to the local government's continuous efforts to restore the ecological environment over past years.

Dubbed as an "international airport for birds", the reserve currently is home to 373 avian species, and attracts large numbers of tourists at home and abroad. Due to the improvements to the ecosystem, a growing number of wild animals, including the red-crowned cranes and Oriental white storks, have been sheltering in the region.